Fall 2006 Progress Update : Preprint

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated the Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project through a competitive solicitation process in 2003. The purpose of this project is to conduct an integrated field validation that simultaneously examines the performance of fuel cell vehicles and the supporting hydrogen infrastructure. Four industry teams have signed cooperative agreements with DOE and are supporting plans for more than 130 fuel cell vehicles and 20 hydrogen refueling stations over the 5-year project duration. This paper provides a status update covering the progress accomplished by the demonstration and validation project over the last six months; the first composite data products from the project were published in March 2006. The composite data products aggregate individual performance into a range that protects the intellectual property of the companies involved, while publicizing the progress the hydrogen and fuel cell industry is making as a whole relative to the program objectives and timeline. Updates to previously published composite data products, such as on-road fuel economy and vehicle/infrastructure safety, will be presented along with new composite data products, such as fuel cell stack efficiency and refueling behavior.